tanning questions

Not sure this is the spot but here i go. I have some questions regarding tanning. Any help will be greatly appreciated.1) do you put the hide on a stretcher right after you skin it or do you try to get the fat off first.2) what are the little leg looking things on the stretcher?3) do you guys use the kits or use home make pickling solutionI am just interested in doing one or two just for show and tell not going to make any thing maybe hang it on a chair in my man cave.Thanks, mike

Mike, Are you sure you want to get into this at home? Kind of a nasty process (acid, bad smells, etc.). There are tons of home recipes on the net here is a link to one.[url="http://"%20&lt;a%20href="http://www.motherearthnews.com/modern-homesteading/how-to-tan-a-hide.aspx""%20target="_blank"&gt;http://www.motherear...ome...hide.aspx"&lt;/a&gt;"]http://www.motherearthnews.com/modern-home...tan-a-hide.aspx[/url]Shooter John has a link for a tanner he uses who only charges $25 per pelt and does a good job.Google tanning animal hides for many others. Good luck.Dan

Skin it, flesh it, stretch it skin side out until skin is dry. On a warm sunny day it doesn't take long for it to dry. I'm assuming you have a wire stretcher, and are talking about the barbed legs to hold the hide once you stretch it. I don't tan them, but the skin isn't soft unless you do. Make your own fleshing beam out of a piece of wood, or pvc pipe. I made mine out of a piece of 8" C900 pipe, about 4' long, cut in half lenght wise, and cut a dull point on one end, then mounted it on a metal stand. You can get a fleshing knife for less than $20. Fleshing is the hardest part.

If you're going to have it tanned you don't really need to stretch it, but it doesn't hurt it either. When doing them yourself the kit says not to flesh, only remove bigger pieces of meat. I did that the first time but it was kind of messy. The 2nd time I flesh the hide after skinning. It was easier to work with like that.I've had hides done at the tannery and have done them myself. Doing them yourself isn't really a big deal but usually they don't come out as soft as one done professionally. I did it myself mainly just to do it and check it out. I've got a couple bobcats and coyotes in my reloading room that I did...they look pretty good. You can buy kits from places like knoblochs that will allow you to do a few on your own for about 25bucks. Get a couple big 5gal buckets...they will come in handy.http://www.knoblochs.com/